Sand and Clay by Sarah Robinson Read Free Book Online Page A

smiled and shouted
goodbye to her, then turning to give the driver the next address.
    Caroline waved until the taxi
pulled away, then walked over to her front door and thanked the door man as he
opened it for her, then climbed the several flights of narrow stairs until she
reached her apartment door. She had a large apartment for New York, but that
still wasn’t saying very much.
     She let herself in and dropped her
keys on the front table. The apartment was dark and she didn’t turn on any of
the lights. Instead she stepped out of her heels, wiggled out of her leather
pants, and tossing off her shirt, leaving a trail of clothes on the floor to
her bedroom.
    Once in her room, she threw on the
t-shirt that she had stolen from Logan, that hung very loose and baggy on her
small frame, and climbed straight into bed. She was already asleep when her
head hit the pillow. The commotion, exhaustion, and emotions had zapped
everything that she had.
    ~**~
    Caroline woke up to a stream of
sunlight stealing its way into her room through a gap in the blinds where they
were tangled. She scrunched her eyes back closed, trying to ignore Sunday
altogether and just go back to sleep. After about an hour of willing the sun to
disappear and it’s defiant refusal to do so, Caroline yawned and lifted herself
out of bed.
    She had no plans today and could
just relax, which was exactly what she planned to do. The events of last night
were behind her and she was back to real life and ready to move on.
    She trotted into her kitchen and
began rummaging through her fridge, finally settling on yogurt mixed with some
granola. Grabbing a spoon, she balanced the yogurt in one hand and scooped up
her sketch pad and a pencil and went to the living room. Her favorite part of
her apartment was an alcove jutting out of the building that she had turned
into a window seat with comfy pillows. It was the perfect spot to sit and
people watch, looking for inspiration for what to draw that day.
    She settled herself onto the bench,
leaning her bare legs against the window, as she was still wearing just the
large t-shirt. Her sketch pad sat behind her as she dove into her yogurt,
enjoying each bite as she watched people walk by on the sidewalk below. She was
on the second floor, so she was at the perfect angle that most people couldn’t
or wouldn’t notice her, but she could see all around her.
    After a few moments of just
enjoying the view, Caroline spotted an older woman sitting on a bench reading a
book. For no particular reason that she could pinpoint, she knew that that was
what she wanted to draw today. So, she put down her yogurt and started on her
sketch pad.
    First forming the shape of the
woman’s body position and the bench, then going back to add the more specific
details like her hair and clothes, then lastly drawing in the final aspects of
the scene like the look in the woman’s eyes, the turning pages of the book, and
the surrounding scenery.
     
    As she had been working, the sun
had risen further in the sky and was now burning bright above her causing the
window seat to become too hot. Caroline hadn’t realized that so much time had
lapsed, but she looked down at her portrait and smiled with pride at the piece.
    She put the sketch pad down and
stretched out her arms, preparing to get up. Just as she was unfolding her
legs, she noticed a swift movement on the sidewalk close to her. She realized
what she was looking at and jumped up like lighting had just hit her. She
pressed her face further against the window to get a better view, but it only
confirmed what she had seen.
    She jumped back from the window,
afraid of being spotted. She turned to look at her apartment and immediately
saw a million things wrong with it. She quickly tossed her yogurt away and
picked up her clothes off the floor, rushing to her bedroom to toss them in the
laundry bin. She was scrambling around the living room when her doorbell rang.
    She came to an abrupt halt and
looked